Leeds Bradford Airport buries time capsule to mark key milestone in £100m terminal regeneration project
Watch as a time capsule is buried at Leeds Bradford Airport in a ceremony attended by a Bradford Bulls and Leeds Rhinos players.
Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) has buried a time capsule which will not be opened until 2075 - as it marks a key milestone in its £100m terminal regeneration project.
Kallum Watkins and Tom Nicholson-Watton from Leeds Rhinos and Mitch Souter from Bradford Bulls attended the burial of the time capsule at the airport on August 18.
Among the buried items are an RAF 609 West Riding Squadron plaque celebrating the airport’s heritage as a former Royal Air Force base.
There’s also a Leeds United scarf, Bradford Bulls matchday tickets for 2075 and a letter from LBA’s CEO to the airport’s future leader.
CEO of Leeds Bradford Airport Vincent Hodder says “this is a way of commemorating that massive step that we’re taking from an old generation into a new generation for the future”
Vincent Hodder, CEO of Leeds Bradford Airport, said: “It fits a lot of stuff inside. What’s great for me is that there’s so much in there from young people in our community today. So, lots of artworks, letters, keepsakes, just little bits and pieces out of people’s lives which in 50 years time people will look at and go, ‘Oh, how interesting - that’s what they put in’. But I think there’s something great as well about having kids involved in the process is that most of those kids will still be alive in 50 years when it opens and they can then go back and remember what they were doing at the time the capsule was buried.
“We’re very clear that the airport has been underinvested for a very long time and the building behind us really symbolises a complete change in that process. We are building that airport that Yorkshire deserves, our community deserves a great airport so we’re trying to build a great airport for the community and this is a way of commemorating that massive step that we’re taking from an old generation into a new generation for the future.”
Sally, a Leeds Bradford Airport passenger, said: “I’ve put in a sunflower lanyard because I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and the airport has helped me massively with their special assistance, so that’s what I’ve put in the time capsule, along with a leaflet about Ehlers-Danlos and a painted rock.”
Dave Brosnan, Gill Garvani and Steph White from Horsforth Town Council said: “We encouraged young children to create art and we chose the piece of artwork that has gone in, it’s a copy of it that has gone in. It’s by a young lady called Lucia. We’ll try and find her and inform her that her piece of artwork has gone into the time capsule.
“It is quite a long time so a lot could potentially happen in that time, but I’d like to think that Horsforth is still thriving as it is now. I think Horsforth is only going to get better and I think this is part of it.
“It’s nice for the residents of Horsforth to know that the council are prominent and they’re doing what we can for the community.”
Mr Hodder said: “My favourite moments from the last 12 months have been the very first passengers coming into the departures area in the new terminal, jaws dropping and you could just see every single one was going through and saying, ‘wow’.
“The other one was a small group of guys, some of the first arriving passengers coming into the terminal, having to go up and ask a staff member if they’d actually arrived in Leeds because they weren't entirely sure. That shows you the difference that we’re making.”